IPA phoneme \aɪ\
In English, both in Received Pronunciation and in General American, the IPA phonetic symbol /aɪ/ corresponds to the vowel sound in words like "price", "fly" and "time". This diphthong is informally called “long I” and a bit more formally "the long sound of the letter I". In strict IPA diphthongs need an inverted breve under their less prominent vowel: /aɪ̯/. However the notation we are using does not have the symbol /a/ by itself, and therefore we know that a vowel after /a/ has an implied inverted breve. This vowel can be pronounced as aɪ̯, ʌɪ̯ or (in Australian English) ɑe̯. In Southern American English this phoneme can be the monophthong aː. At the advice of Clive Upton the Concise Oxford Dictionary altered the British tradition and now uses /ʌɪ/ instead of /aɪ/; later Oxford Dictionaries Online followed the same convention.Oxford Dictionaries Online, Key to pronunciations (British and World English dictionary). See ʌɪ as in m''y''. The phonetician Jack Windsor Lewis says "the verdict on /ʌɪ/ alongside /aʊ/ must be that it is a very regrettable departure from EPD14b [Daniel Jones English Pronouncing Dictionary] that would be better abandoned in future."Jack Windsor Lewis, IPA vowel symbols for British English in dictionaries, Section 8. /ʌɪ/ versus /aɪ/. Common words Some common words which practice the pronunciation of /aɪ/ include the following: One syllable * with "ie": die, lie, pie, tie * with "i'": bind, blind, child, climb, find, hi, I, kind, mild, mind, pint, wild, wind ''(verb), whilst * with "'''i" and magic e: bike, drive, file, fine, ice, life, like, line, live (adj.), mile, mine, nice, pine, price, quite, rise, side, site, size, smile, strike, time, while, white, wide, wife, wine, write * with "ig": sign * with "igh": bright, fight, flight, fright, height, high, light, might, night, right, sigh, sight, slight, thigh, tight * with the [[Decoding the letter Y|letter "y"]]: by, cry, dry, dye, fly, fry, my, rye, shy, sky, style, try, type, why * others: buy, guy; eye Several syllables * with "i'" :followed by one consonant: finally, '''i'dentity, item, primary, private :followed by two or more consonants: behind, library, title :followed by a vowel: idea, science, society, variety, trial * with "'''i" and magic e: arrive, decide, define, describe, exercise, inside, outside, provide, realise /realize, surprise * with "ig": align, assign, design, resign * with "y'" and magic e: analyse /analyze * with "'y" :ending in stressed /aɪ/: apply, deny, July, nearby, rely, reply, supply :ending in /aɪ/ with secondary stress: identify, occupy, qualify, satisfy, specify :other: cycle, hypothesis, ps'y'''chology Less common words * with "'i'": :with magic e: bite, knife, precise, pride, rice, slice, wipe, wise :followed by one consonant: binary, ivory, Niger, N'i'geria, North Carolina, South Carolina, tiger :followed by two or more consonants: bible, grind :followed by a vowel: biography, Brian, diagnose, Diana, Diane, Iowa, lion, Ohio * with "'igh'": Brighton * with "'y'": byte, dynamic, hyaena, hyena, hygiene, python, rhyme, Ryan, spy, sty, tycoon, Wyoming * with "'ei'": apartheid, gesundheit, kaleidoscope, leitmotif, poltergeist, Rottweiler * with "'ey'": Cheyenne /ʃaɪˈæn, ʃaɪˈ n/, geyser * with "'ae'": maestro, tae kwon do * with "'ai'": aikido, bonsai, daiquiri, haiku, Hawaii /həˈwaɪiː/, kaiser, samurai, Taiwan, Thailand * with "'ay'": papaya, Paraguay, Uruguay * coyote: /kaɪˈəʊ.tiː, ˈkaɪ.oʊt, kɔɪˈəʊ.tiː / /aɪ/ in combination with /r/ In some words "ir" and "yr" are pronounced /aɪər/, and in others they are pronounced /aɪr/. */aɪə/: acquire, choir, desire, entire, fire, hire, inspire, Ireland, iron /aɪərn/, require, retire, , , umpire, wire */aɪ/: gyrate, irate, pirate, polystyrene, pyromaniac, spiral, virus */aɪ/ or /aɪə/: environment Homophones *aisle - I'll - isle; bite - byte; buy - by; cite - site - sight; die - dye; fined - find; high - hi; I - eye; knight - night; mined - mind; right - rite - write; sighed - side; sighs - size; sight - site; time - thyme; whine - wine; why - Y. Heteronyms *live /lɪv/ ''(verb), /laɪv/ (adjective) *multiply /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/ (verb), /ˈmʌltəpliː/ (adverb) *wind /wɪnd/ (air movement), /waɪnd/ (to tighten a spring) Variant pronunciations */ə, ɪ, aɪ/: direct, director, directory *either /ˈaɪðər, ˈiːðər/, neither /ˈnaɪðər, ˈniːðər/ *fragile /ˈfrædʒaɪl, ˈfrædʒəl / *geyser /ˈɡaɪzər, ˈɡiːzər / Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1 Spanish References See also *Magic e *Decoding the letter I *Decoding and spelling exercises: /ɪ/ vs /aɪ/ *Pronunciation exercises: /eɪ/ vs /aɪ/ External links *British Library: Learning - Sounds Familiar? Vowel /a~i/ a~i